India’s flag carrier airline, Air India plans to launch three new non-stop flight services to Bali, Nairobi and Toronto from Delhi.
Currently there are no non-stop flights being operated by any carrier between Delhi and Bali and Nairobi however Air Canada has flight services from Delhi and Toronto. The national carrier, Air India plans to regain its position in the international market by adding these new flight routes to its existing portfolio of its international flight routes.
It’s worth a mention here that Jet Airways was the main rival for Air India in the international flights traffic operated by Indian carriers. Jet was shut down in April this year due to financial difficulties, for the FY 18 Air India had a total international market share of 10.4 % while Jet Airways accounted for 14% in the same year. Now with the complete closure of Jet Airways, Air India plans to fill the void created by Jet Airways and increase its international traffic and profitability by launching new international destinations.
Business-standard.com reports that the new international flight service from Delhi to Toronto will commence on September 27th this year and the frequency of these new flights will be thrice in a week operating from its main hub in Delhi. This news has also been confirmed by Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri in a Twitter post. There however is no news about the launch date of new international flights from Delhi to Bali and Nairobi.
Air India has been losing a lot of revenue off late due to the rising costs of the jet fuel and the closure of the Pakistani airspace which plays a vital role in the flying time on its outbound European and US flights, the shutting down of the Pakistani airspace is responsible for longer flying times on its international flights to Europe and the US. It has been estimated that these two setbacks are causing a daily loss of Rupees six Crore in Revenue to the airline.
Air India’s seventeen planes including popular aircraft models such as Airbus 320, Boeing 777 and Boeing 787 have been grounded since the last several months due to scarcity of spare parts and the India carrier hopes to get them up and running by winter this year.
